Inflammation underscores so much of what we cover here at mbg—it’s the root cause of not only preventable diseases but also gut dysfunction that many of us experience daily. So for the next 10 days, we’re doing a deep dive into inflammation, giving you everything you need to know: the basics of what inflammation is, how to know if you have it, and what you can do to control it. Follow along here, and to learn even more, check out our FREE Functional Nutrition Webinar with Vincent Pedre, M.D.

Sometimes we oversimplify concepts in health and nutrition. We classify hormones like cortisol, insulin, or testosterone as good or bad when they actually behave in a far more complex and intricate way within the body.

So too with inflammation. In the short-term, it can save your life. Let’s say you get a nasty paper cut at work. Immediately, your immune cells step in to protect against pathogens and heal the wound.

We call that acute inflammation: your white blood cells steps in, do their job, and then leave.

But there’s another type of inflammation that sticks around way after the party ends. Chronic inflammation is like that dinner guest who can’t take the hint to leave. Whereas he was quiet in the beginning, as he becomes more inebriated the louder he becomes.

Chronic inflammatory diseases can take years before you see their first signs, but their destruction is far-reaching. Inflammation in these cases is working at the microscopic level — you won’t see it with your eyes until it is bad enough to cause something like a swollen joint. And it isn’t an isolated problem: Chronic inflammation goes hand-in-hand with other issues like oxidative damage that when taken together trigger or exacerbate disease and make you age more rapidly.

Numerous things may fuel that inflammatory fire, including toxins in the environment you are exposed to on a daily basis. Consider that about 80,000 chemicals are registered in America, and every year about 2,000 new ones appear. Most haven’t been tested for long-term safety in humans.

So too can prescription drugs, antibiotics, chronic stress, lack of sleep, and especially what you eat.

Our heavily processed, sugary, gut-damaging, inflammatory diet paves the way for obesity, but also type 2 diabetes and all its complications, fueling that low-grade inflammation.

What affects your gut, also impacts your brain. Consider that your gut makes about 95 percent of your feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin. That could explain why inflammation often leads to mood disorders. For example, researchers have found a link between chronic stress, inflammation, and depression.

Chronic inflammation is sometimes called the silent killer: It plays a role in nearly every disease. Inflammation at its worst is deadly, like a massive heart attack or stroke; yet, for many chronic inflammatory conditions it can take years before their symptoms become apparent, by which time a lot of the damage has already occured.

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How do you measure inflammation?

We are all inflamed to some degree (for a few strategies on how to tame inflammation, check out this article and this one). Signs and symptoms of chronic inflammation are sometimes obvious, such as fatigue and pain. Other times, they aren’t so obvious and can simmer for years before they manifest as symptoms.

I can usually determine chronic inflammation among patients with specific findings on their physical exam:

I also look at my patient’s blood work, which can reveal hidden chronic inflammation. Inflammatory markers, such as C-reactive protein (CRP), are able to predict problems including future cardiovascular issues, like a heart attack (even in women).

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a protein your liver makes. Elevated levels indicate your body is harboring inflammation somewhere. Your doctor is able to measure levels with a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein test, sometimes also called an hs-CRP test. If it’s greater than 3.0 mg/L, it is elevated and will put you at increased disease risk.

Other inflammatory markers I frequently use in my practice include:

Lp-PLA2

Ferritin

CBC (complete blood count)

Liver Function Tests, including GGT (gamma-glutamyl transferase)

Fasting blood sugar (ideally < 90)

HGBa1c (ideally < 5.7)

Low HDL (good cholesterol) [<50 mg/dl women; <40 mg/dl men]

Ask your doctor to measure these levels. He or she should then review and discuss these tests with you, including helping you find optimal levels and strategies to normalize these inflammatory markers.

When I measure inflammation in my patients, I also look at two key fatty acids. One is the omega-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid (AA), which is the precursor to pro-inflammatory signaling molecules known as eicosanoids. The other fatty acid is the omega-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which generates anti-inflammatory eicosanoids.

Once upon a time, we consumed about equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. Today, research shows we eat 20 or more times omega-6’s than omega-3’s, which fuels the inflammatory fires that keep us fat, sick, and achy.

The higher the AA/EPA ratio in the blood, the greater the level of silent inflammation that is likely to be found throughout your organs and blood vessels. And that’s where your diet comes in.

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Fight Inflammation With Your Fork

Chronic inflammation has many culprits, and foremost among them is what you eat. That’s actually good news because you have the power to dial down inflammation starting with your very next meal.

Food is information, and when my patients lose weight, they reduce inflammation, which in turn helps them lose more weight. Foremost among those strategies is to reduce the amount of inflammatory foods and increase anti-inflammatory ones.

Inflammatory foods aren’t always obvious. Sometimes they get cloaked as healthy, or they might be healthy foods with unhealthy ingredients. Watch out for “friendly” labels, as the food industry is quite savvy in making unhealthy products look healthy and appealing. Among them are included:

Vegetable oils and other oils high in inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids

Grain-fed meats and farm-raised fish

Damaged and hydrogenated fats

Trans-fats

Food sensitivities, including the two biggest ones — gluten and dairy

Sugar in all its many disguises (including refined carbs)

Raw nuts and seeds

Soy

Genetically-modified crops

Most processed, boxed foods in the grocery store’s center aisles

Gluten-free cookies, crackers, and other “healthy” junk foods

An anti-inflammatory diet, on the other hand, includes plenty of foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, including wild-caught fish, walnuts, avocado, and freshly ground flax and chia seeds. These foods taper down inflammation while supporting a healthy gut with their dietary fibers.

Other great sources of healthy anti-inflammatory fats include extra-virgin coconut and olive oils, grass-fed beef, and sprouted nuts and seeds. You’ll also want to incorporate plenty of colorful non-starchy plant foods and sufficient, but not excessive protein.

An ideal way to incorporate this plan is with a ketogenic diet. Inflammatory foods like dairy and grain-fed meats may slip into a ketogenic plan, so you’ll want to be very careful about focusing on anti-inflammatory ones to get the diet’s full benefits, remembering to eat mostly plants and spices for the inflammation-fighting properties.

Intermittent fasting offers a great way to complement the anti-inflammatory power of a ketogenic diet. When you give the digestive system a break, you reduce inflammation in your gut, which reduces inflammation throughout your entire body. This article can help you determine the best fasting plan. Take it a step further, and a 5-day fast-mimicking diet will turn on longevity genes that rejuvenate your cells while helping your body dump old cellular debris.

Working with your doctor can reveal where microscopic inflammation is coming from, but at the end of the day, it comes down to food and lifestyle. It’s what you eat that can make the most dramatic difference in reducing body-wide inflammation.

Vincent M. Pedre, M.D.

Gut Health Specialist & Best-Selling Author

Dr. Vincent M. Pedre, medical director of Pedre Integrative Health and president of Dr. Pedre Wellness, is a board-certified internist in private practice in New York City since 2004. His philosophy and practices are a blend of both Western and Eastern medical traditions. He is a clinical instructor in medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and is certified in yoga and medical acupuncture. His unique methodology is best described as integrative or defined by a functional, systems-based approach to health. With his holistic understanding of both sides of the equation, he can help each patient choose the best course of action for their ailments to provide both immediate and long-term relief. His holistic approach incorporates positive, preventive health and wellness lifestyle choices. Dr. Pedre Wellness is a growing wellness platform offering health-enhancing programs along with informative social media and lifestyle products, such as dietary supplements, books, and weight-loss programs.